Q&A from FedSmith authors addressing readers’ questions. We share them here to help you with your federal career or retirement planning.
I’m a FWS supervisor. Management recently announced that each supervisor now will work only 4 out of ten holidays each year, and will be excused from work on the six holidays they are not scheduled to work. In the past, we get paid if we work or not, and, as a result, were paid holiday premium pay for the time worked on each holiday. Do we have rights in this situation?
If I work in Shawnee County KS, which is just outside Kansas City, and will be covered by the new GS Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City MO/KS locality pay area, will my WG-5 wage automatically increase to the same level as that paid to WG-5 employees whose duty station is Kansas City?
I’ve heard that the recent tax and spending legislation expanded identity theft protection to federal employees who were affected by the OPM data breach. Is this true?
A co-worker recently told me that I could contribute to both an IRA and the TSP. Is this true?
I’ve heard that 2016 will have 27 pay periods. Is that true? If it is true, how will it affect my TSP contributions?
Do I take a full survivor benefit for my wife which I estimate will be $226.00 that is deducted from my monthly retirement, or do I take some kind of guaranteed life insurance that would guarantee her an income should I pass before her?
My wife and I have looked throughout our home town and can’t find even one financial advisor that specializes in working with federal employees. At the same time, I’m uncomfortable working with an advisor in another area of the country. What should we do?
I plan on retiring with 42 years and 7 months of service in Jan 2017. I will have accumulated 2500 hours of sick leave balance at time of retirement. I am in CSRS, so I was wondering what the increase in my annuity, expressed as a percentage, above the 80% value, would be due to credit for sick leave.
I work with an advisor with whom I feel pretty comfortable but wonder if there is any critical info he might be missing because he rarely deals with federal employees. Is there something in particular I can ask him to check into, to make sure?
Why are some employees under the Federal Wage System not being paid the full amount they are owed?
